International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 5, May 2014)

Indian Energy Crises and Biodiesel as Renewable Alternative Fuel Shashank Mohan1, Manish Jain2, Amit Pal3 1,3

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Delhi Technological University, Bawana Road, Delhi 110042, India 2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, RJIT, BSF Academy, Takenpur, Gwalior, India The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes in the Climate Change 2007 that, because of global warming effect the global surface temperatures are likely to increase by 1.1°C to 6.4°C between 1990 and 2100 [1].

Abstract--In this research paper we found that in order to meet the growing energy needs as a consequence of spiraling demand and diminishing supply, in today’s world renewable energy and biomass sources mostly bio-fuels are receiving more attention. The demand for energy has been phenomenon due to the rapid development of certain growing economies, especially in developing countries. Also because of the environmental pollution from internal combustion engines, the increasing global concern has compelled the researcher’s worldwide to focus on the renewable alternative fuels. Various research studies to replace petroleum based diesel fuel with the vegetable oils or their derivations suggested that biodiesel can be produced from various vegetable oils, waste cooking oils and animal fats. Keywords-- Energy Pollution, Environment

crises,

Biodiesel,

Diesel

II. ENERGY CRISIS There is a realization throughout the world that the petroleum resources which are non-renewable, are limited and are being consumed at an alarming rate. The growing demand for energy and gradual extinction of fossil fuels has lead to an energy crisis. Most of the power in industries and transportation is derived from oil and coal. Special mention is needed for automobiles where almost all of the fuels for combustion engine today are derived from petroleum, a nonrenewable source of energy, which is nearing its end at an unprecedented pace. The grave name of the energy problem was sharply brought into focus by the oil crisis of 1973. Since then, several price hikes have taken place, upsetting economy of most of the nation. The globe today uses about 147 trillion kWh of energy which is expected to rise in the coming future [2]. A major chunk of this rise will be due to the developing countries, which are bound to grow by leaps and bounds.

engine,

I. INTRODUCTION Energy is one of the most significant inputs for growth of all sectors including agricultural, industrial service and transport sectors. Energy has been at the centre stage of national & global economic development for several decades. The demand for energy, around the world is increasing exponentially, specifically the demand for petroleum-based energy. Petroleum derived fuels, actually, exceeds the demand of any other fuels or energy resources. The world consumption for petroleum and other liquid fuel will grow from 85 million barrels/day in 2006 to 107 million barrels/day in 2030. Under these growth assumptions, approximately half of the world’s total resources would be exhausted by 2030. Also, as per many studies, the world oil production would peak sometime between 2007 and 2030 [1]. Therefore, the future energy availability is a serious global. Another, major global concern is environmental degradation or climate change such as global warming. Global warming is related with the greenhouse gases which are mostly emitted from the combustion of petroleum fuels. In order to control the emissions of greenhouse gases, Kyoto Protocol targets to reduce the greenhouse gas emission by a collective average of 5% below 1990 level of respective countries.

Energy Scenario: Indian Context India had experienced robust growth for the past few years, and after an impressive 9.6 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2006-07 the Indian economy is headed towards 8.7 per cent growth in the current fiscal [3]. The energy needs of India are also rising to cope up the growth rate Of the 156.1 million tonnes of crude oil that India consumed in 2007-08; it produced only 34.12 million tonnes [4]. Indian economy is mainly agriculture based and modern agriculture system is heavily dependent upon internal combustion engines for running farm machinery, irrigation pump sets, and other equipments. Indian growth is mainly based on energy, produced by “oil-burning” in IC engines. It is very difficult to find clear blue sky in Indian metropolis. Petroleum fuels are major contributor to ecological imbalance in India. 802

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 5, May 2014) As Indian economy is heavily based upon IC engines, it is not possible in any case to discard them and some other, easily available renewable fuels in India. These renewable fuels must be sought to lease new life to existing engines in order to curb the twin problems of fuel scarcity and air pollution. Various national emission standards have been set by the Government of India through which the fleets are facing greater pressures to switch to cleaner alternative fuels. The alternative fuels are desirable from the fact that they are the only fuels used with recent engine developments, which can meet the stringent EURO-IV emission norms, which are expected to be enforced in India from 2010. India being richer in flora and fauna can look forward to use fuels from bio origin as the suitable alternatives. The prominent bio fuels from Indian perspective are ethanol and biodiesel. India, the world's second most populous nation, has seen its population exploding from 300 million in 1947 to around 1.2 billion today. This rapidly growing population has placed a strain not only on India's infrastructure, but also on its environment. According to the World Health Organization, New Delhi is one of the top ten most polluted cities in the world. Two primary sources of air pollution in India are vehicular emissions and untreated industrial smoke. The number of vehicles has registered a sharp increase more so, during the last decade. In Delhi alone, the vehicle number has crossed about 4.6 million. Today, the vehicular pollution contributes roughly 64 % of total air pollution in Delhi, followed closely by Mumbai at 52% and somewhat controlled figure of 30% for Kolkata. About 50% of the total petroleum products consumed in the country go into the transport sector mainly in the form of high-speed diesel and gasoline [5]. India's per capita energy use and carbon emissions, while lower than the world average, result in a substantial percentage of world energy use and carbon emissions, due to the country's large population and heavy reliance on fossil fuels. Increased use of renewable energy is one means of reducing carbon emissions.

In the year 2011, India will have a total population of about 1.3 billion people of which 68% will be living in rural areas. Since diesel constitutes 37 % of total petroleum consumption mainly for transportation and other purposes, its demand is integrally related to economic growth and is seen as a growth inducing factor. Stress of the overburdening population will augment the strain in terms of the volume of fuel required, but the picture of proven oil reserves distribution doesn’t reflect the pleasant sight at all. The share with respect to the energy distribution of the remaining oil reserves across the world is shown in Figure 1.

Oil reserves(million tonnes)

120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Total Total S. Total North & Cent. Europe & America America Eurasia

Total Middle East

Total Africa

Total Asia Pacific

Figure 1: World Oil Reserves, 2008 [6]

It can be observed, that bulk of the reserves are with Middle East. The condition of the Asia Pacific countries presents a dismal trend, presently, only 3.3%of the total share is in their buckets. Therefore, it is apparent that the Asian countries have to change their fuel strategy or live with the escalating burdens of oil imports or with joint venture abroad with the hope to meet their requirement. At present, India imports about 77.94 % of its crude oil required. Net import of crude oil has increased from 74.10 MMT in 2000-01 to 121.67 MMT in 2007-08. India paid Rs.272,699 Crores for importing crude oil in 2007-08. This import comprised about 30 % of the total value of Indian imports in 2007-08 [4]. Heavy dependence on import of crude oil is a subject of serious concern. As per The World Energy out Look, India’s dependence on oil import would grow to 91.6 % by the year 2020. The trend of import of crude oil in India is shown in table 1. As already evident from above discussion that the self reliance of our country is declining and has reached to a very low figure of 21.86% in year 2007-08 as shown in table 2.

III. ENERGY DEMAND AND SUPPLY Energy Security is driven by the demand and supply behaviour. India ranks sixth in the world in terms of energy demand accounting for 3.64% of world commercial energy demand in 2007. Although India ranks fifth in total energy consumption in the world (404.4 MTOE (million tones of oil equivalent), this is only 17.12% of the energy consumed by the largest consumer, i.e. USA (2361.4 MTOE). In per capita terms, its consumption is only about 20% of the global average. Rapid Industrialization and Globalization have pushed the demand of energy to new heights. 803

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 5, May 2014) Although, India has invested considerable resources in petroleum sector, the crude oil production has stagnated around 32-33 million metric tonnes per year over the past decade. The majority of India's roughly 5.4 billion barrels in oil reserves are located in the Bombay High, Upper Assam, Cambay, Krishna-Godavari, and Cauvery basins. India's average oil production level for 2007 was 801000 barrels per day [4]. But the consumption continues to outstrip production. Over the years, the domestic availability of the crude oil has not kept pace with the demand. Table 2 summarises the trends of demand and supply of crude petroleum in the preceding years.

IV. ALTERNATE FUELS To solve dual problems of fossil fuel depletion and environmental degradation, the renewable fuels with lower environmental impact are necessary. Nowadays, many new fuels have been used and biomass derived fuels are among them. Some of the well known biomass derived fuels are ethanol for gasoline engines and bio-diesel for compression ignition engines. Biodiesel is a renewable and environmental friendly alternative fuel for diesel engine which is produced from variety of vegetable oils and animal fats by the trans-esterification process. Transesterification is a chemical reaction in which vegetable oils and animal fats are reacted with alcohol in the presence of a catalyst. The products of reaction are fatty acid alkyl ester and glycerine, and the fatty acid alkyl ester is known as biodiesel. Bio-diesel is an oxygenated fuel containing 10% to 11% oxygen by weight. Also it is a sulphur-free fuel. These lead biodiesel to more complete combustion and less harmful exhaust emissions. However, biodiesel fuel has higher viscosity, density, pour point, flash point and cetane number than diesel fuel. Also the energy content or net calorific value of biodiesel is about 12% lower than that of diesel fuel on a mass basis. Using biodiesel can help in reducing the world’s dependence on fossil fuels and also has significant environmental benefits. Using biodiesel instead of the conventional diesel fuel reduces exhaust emissions such as the overall life circle carbon dioxide (CO2), particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), sulphur oxides (SOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and unburned hydrocarbons (UBHC). However, most of the biodiesels give 10% to 15% higher oxides of nitrogen (NOx) when fuelling with 100% biodiesel [7]. Depending on the abundantly availability of feedstock in local region, the different feedstocks are tried for the biodiesel production. In the United States, the primary sources for biodiesel production is soy bean oil, while EU nations prefer to utilize rapeseed oil, and in South East Asia regions, palm oil, coconut oil and Jatropha oil are used for biodiesel productions. Growing the production of biodiesel in many countries around the world has been accompanied by the development of standards to ensure high fuel quality. The biodiesel standards are ASTM D6751 in the United States and EN 14214 in EU Nations. The properties of biodiesel are mainly determined by the structure of fatty acids alkyl esters which constitutes it, particularly, the combustion characteristics such as ignition quality, and the fuel properties such as density, viscosity, pour point and oxidation stability of biodiesel are mostly affected by the structure of fatty acids alkyl esters [8].

Table 1 Import of Crude Oil in India [4] Year

Crude Oil Qty MMT

Value (Rs. In Crores)

1996-97

33.91

18538

1997-98

34.49

15897

1999-99

39.81

14876

1999-00

57.80

30695

2000-01

74.10

65932

2001-02

78.70

60397

2002-03

85.81

62876

2003-04

90.43

83528

2004-05

95.86

117003

2005-06

99.41

171702

2006-07

110.86

219991

2007-08

121.67

272699

Table 2 Consumption and Domestic Availability of Crude Oil [4]

Year

1990-91 1995-96 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08

Domestic Production (Mt) 33.02 35.17 32.43 32.03 33.04 33.38 33.98 32.19 33.99 34.12

Demand (Mt)

(%)Self Reliance

53.72 62.51 106.523 110.738 115.031 123.815 129.84 131.6 144.85 156.1

61.4 56.2 30.4 28.92 28.72 26.96 26.17 24.4 23.46 21.86

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International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 5, May 2014) Use of Biodiesel in Railways Indian Railways has set up a biodiesel production unit at Loco Workshops Perambur in Chennai which is successfully manufacturing biodiesel for the past 8 years. Similar plants are being established at Raipur in Chattisgarh and Tondiarpet near Chennai. Biodiesel is being used in blends of B5, B10 and B20 for diesel engines of transport vehicles and locomotives. These locomotives have 2600 hp diesel engines and are mostly underutilized. Similarly both these workshops invariably use diesel engine operated fork lift trucks as the components handled are quite heavy. As already Biodiesel is successfully introduced it can also be tried out in both of these workshops in days to come. [10-11]

V. ALTERNATIVE FUEL ATTRIBUTES There are some very important parameters which should be considered before adaptation of an alternative fuel in an existing engine. These include:  No or minimum engine modification  Use of same storage and transportation infrastructure.  Biodegradable and non-toxic assuring safe handling and transportation.  Capability of being produced locally and low investment cost. [2, 3]. The economic benefits of the fuels like vegetable oils, compressed natural gas, ethanol, and methanol etc. compared to the traditional petroleum resources are marginal but the environmental benefits are enormous, thus public policies need to be revised to encourage the development of these resources for which: 

Land for production need to be explored



An efficient extraction of oil from oil seeds and transesterification plant would be required



Distribution and storage facilities constructed



Monitoring of major users for detection of problems



Large scale use are needed before the technology can be recommended for general use



The magnitude of our energy needs provides an inexhaustible market of our total agriculture production capacity at the highest possible level



Farm back to work providing for our food needs and also growing crops and livestock for energy. Energy is the only crop that we could never grow in surplus [4,9].

Waste Vegetable Oil Restaurants use many different oils for frying foods. These oils are subjected to very high temperatures as well as fats and water from various foods. The process of frying food changes the physical and chemical make-up of the oil increasing the acidity and water content. This affects the Transesterification Process - the chemical process of making of biodiesel. Higher FFA’s require more catalyst and alcohol, which in turn increases production costs. Other problems may arise from oils high in water or FFA’s, such as poor fuel from incomplete reaction and the formation of emulsions from a water washing process due to excess soap formation or shortened life of ION exchange resins. WVO with the least amount of water (“under 1%”) and low FFA’S (fewer than 5%”) are desirable. Biodiesel Chemically known as Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) refers to any vegetable oil or animal fat that has been altered through a process called transesterification, a process in which oil, (an ester) gets converted to biodiesel, (another ester) and glycerin a byproduct. Biodiesel is a clean burning renewable fuel that mimics the properties of petroleum diesel, but with increased lubricity and lower emissions. Biodiesel can be mixed in any ratio with petroleum diesel to create a blend. Common blends are B2 and B20. Places to look for high quality oil would be restaurants that fry low fat foods, vegetables, fish, chicken, and potato chips. Example: Oriental restaurants and shrimp boats etc. The types of WVO to look for are Canola, Soy, Sunflower and Corn Oil in this order from thin to thick. The thickness or viscosity of the oil becomes a concern in cold climates as biodiesel made from heavier oil has “higher viscosity” and poor cold weather performance.

VI. BIODIESEL AS AN ALTERNATIVE Biodiesel is an organic, non-toxic and biodegradable fuel made from everyday renewable resources, like vegetable oils or animal fats. It can power your car's engine and help the environment at the same time. It doesn't contain any petroleum, so forget about escalating gas prices. Biodiesel cuts down on CO2 emissions; in fact, it's the only alternative fuel to have fully completed the health effects testing requirements of the US Clean Air Act. Biodiesel can be purchased at a growing number of fuelling stations around the world but you can also make it in your own backyard. Even if you don't like chemistry, you can brew your own.

805

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 5, May 2014) Partially hydrogenated oil has a higher “cloud point” but will not oxidize as fast. The difference between nonhydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oil is small and both are treated the same when making biodiesel. Hydrogenation results in the conversion of liquid vegetable oils to solid or semi-solid fats. Complete hydrogenation converts unsaturated fatty acids to saturated ones. Changing the degree of saturation of the fat changes some important physical properties such as the melting point, which is why liquid oils become semi-solid. Since partially hydrogenated vegetable oils are cheaper than animal source fats and are available in a wide range of consistencies, and have other desirable characteristics (e.g., increased oxidative stability). Table 3 gives the summary of proposed BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) standards for biodiesel. Most restaurants tend to use partially hydrogenated oil due to cost and longer life of Non-hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils will be the most common type of oils used in restaurants. Some will use completely hydrogenated oil that is solid at room temperature and should be avoided. Non-hydrogenated oil will have better cold flow properties, but will not store as well without adding stabilizers. Partially hydrogenated oil has a higher “cloud point” but will not oxidize as fast. The difference between non-hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oil is small and both are treated the same when making biodiesel. Hydrogenation results in the conversion of liquid vegetable oils to solid or semi-solid fats. Complete hydrogenation converts unsaturated fatty acids to saturated ones. Changing the degree of saturation of the fat changes some important physical properties such as the melting point, which is why liquid oils become semi-solid. Since partially hydrogenated vegetable oils are cheaper than animal source fats and are available in a wide range of consistencies, and have other desirable characteristics (e.g., increased oxidative stability. Most restaurants tend to use partially hydrogenated oil due to cost and longer life of oil. Table 4 gives the Properties of biodiesel from different oils.

Thinner oils will have better cold flow properties and better cold weather performance. Biodiesel made from WVO will usually have a higher viscosity than biodiesel made from virgin oil due to the physical and chemical changes made to WVO in the frying process. This will not be a large temperature difference, but you should expect a few degrees difference. Hotels and restaurants use many different oils for frying foods. These oils are subjected to very high temperatures as well as fats and water from various foods. The process of frying food changes the physical and chemical make-up of the oil increasing the acidity and water content. This affects the Transesterification Process - the chemical process of making of biodiesel. Higher FFA’s require more catalyst and alcohol, which in turn increases production costs. Other problems may arise from oils high in water or FFA’s, such as poor fuel from incomplete reaction and the formation of emulsions from a water washing process due to excess soap formation or shortened life of ION exchange resins. WVO with the least amount of water (“under 1%”) and low FFA’S (fewer than 5%”) are desirable look for high quality oil would be restaurants that fry low fat foods, vegetables, fish, chicken, and potato chips. Example: Oriental restaurants and shrimp boats etc. The types of WVO to look for are Canola, Soy, Sunflower and Corn Oil in this order from thin to thick. The thickness or viscosity of the oil becomes a concern in cold climates as biodiesel made from heavier oil has “higher viscosity” and poor cold weather performance. Thinner oils will have better cold flow properties and better cold weather performance. Biodiesel made from WVO will usually have a higher viscosity than biodiesel made from virgin oil due to the physical and chemical changes made to WVO in the frying process. This will not be a large temperature difference, but you should expect a few degrees difference. Non-hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils will be the most common type of oils used in restaurants. Some will use completely hydrogenated oil that is solid at room temperature and should be avoided. Non-hydrogenated oil will have better cold flow properties, but will not store as well without adding stabilizers.

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International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 4, Issue 5, May 2014) Table 3 summary of proposed BIS(Bureau of Indian Standards) standards for biodiesel [9]

Standard / specification Density @ 15oC Viscosity @ 40oC Flash point Sulphur, max. CCR,100%distilation residual max.. Sulphated ash,max, Water.max Total contamination, max. no Cetane Acid no Methanol Ester content Diglyceride Triglyceride Free glycerol Total glycerol Iodine no Phosphorus Alkaline matter(Na,K) Distillation, T 95%

Unit

Proposed BIS 0.87 – 0.903.5 5.0 >=100

g/cm3 mm2/s o C %mass %mass %mass mg/kg mg/kg mg KOH/g %mass %mass %mass %mass %mass %mass

0.035 0.05 0.02 500 20 >=51